Black box uncovered from Afriqiyah Airways flight crash

by Jessica MCILHINNEY on May 13, 2010

The black box voice recorders from the Airbus SAS jet that crashed yesterday have been recovered from the wreckage.

The Afriqiyah Airways flight killed 103 people on board when it went down yesterday in a fiery crash landing. According to airline spokeswoman, Elizabeth McQuiggan, the twin-engine A330 jet was in its final approach when it crashed killing everyone but one onboard the aircraft. She added that at present authorities are uncertain as to the cause of the incident.

The plane was not yet a year old, taking its first flight last year in August, said UK aviation consultants. JANA has also confirmed that no evidence of terrorism was found. Nationalities on the flight included British, French, German, South African, Libyan, and Dutch. Of the 93 passengers, 64 were Dutch tourists, of these one child survived the crash. The child is the sole survivor of the plane wreck.

The aircraft, according to witnesses, crashed at around 6 AM local time in Tripoli. Metal pieces of the plane were said to be strewn about on the ground as rescue workers attempted to reach any survivors. The aircraft was carrying 93 passengers with 11 crew members.

According to a spokesperson from Johannesburg airport, many of the passengers onboard Afriqiyah Flight 771 had connecting flights back to Europe. There were 11 passengers that would have finished their journey in Tripoli. According to Kras.nl, a Dutch holiday company owned by TUI Travel Plc, it had clients on the plane. Stip Reizen, a tour operator out of the Netherlands, had 38 clients, all of whom were carrying on to Dusseldorf, when the plane went down.